SMS Zara

SMS Zara early in her career
History
Austria-Hungary
Name	Zara
Namesake	Zara
Laid down	1 August 1878
Launched	13 November 1879
Commissioned	17 July 1882
Fate	Ceded to Italy, 1920 Scrapped, 1921
General characteristics
Class and type	Zara class
Displacement	833 long tons (846 t)
Length	62.71 m (205 ft 9 in)
Beam	8.22 m (27 ft)
Draft	4.1 m (13 ft 5 in)
Installed power	5 × fire-tube boilers 1,800 PS (1,775 ihp)
Propulsion	2 × compound steam engines 2 × screws
Speed	Trials: 14.29 kn (26.47 km/h; 16.44 mph) Service: 14.02 kn (25.97 km/h; 16.13 mph)
Crew	13 officers 135 enlisted men
Armament	4 x 9-centimeter (3.5 in) 24-cal. guns 1 x 7 cm (2.8 in) 15-cal. gun 2 x 25 mm (0.98 in) Nordenfelt guns 4 x torpedo tubes
Armor	Deck: 19 mm (0.75 in)

SMS Zara was a torpedo cruiser of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the lead ship of the Zara class. She was laid down in August 1878, launched in November 1879, and commissioned into the fleet in July 1882. The ship was armed with a battery of light guns and four torpedo tubes. She proved to be poorly designed, being too slow for use as a fleet scout or as a flotilla leader for torpedo boats, so she saw little active service. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, she was frequently in reserve, being activated infrequently to participate in training exercises. She served as a guard ship in Cattaro Bay for most of World War I, before being withdrawn for use as a cadet training ship in June 1917. She served in this capacity until the end of the war in 1918, and was ceded to Italy as a war prize in 1920. The Italian Navy had no use for the vessel, and sold her to ship breakers in 1921.